SOT: Considering a MK2, 3 or 4 VW GTI for my new DD, Give me the good, the bad, and the ugly... Options

[Gint]

I don't want to spend a fortune and I don't buy new cars anymore anyway. I like the fact that I can get into cars I've always liked without losing my shorts or spending a a ton of cash. I have a 914, a 4WD truck and a DD (the DD will be replaced with this car) so absolute dependability isn't the most important factor as I can deal with one car having a little down time.

I've been wanting to get an old water cooled VW again for quite awhile. While I'd prefer a MK1 Scirocco or GTI, they aren't exactly plentiful anymore. So I'm looking at the later GTIs. Of course a Scirocco wouldn't be out of the question either. But I can go as late as the early MK4's GTIs. I've heard different things about the reliability of these cars, but I respect most everyone's opinion here and know a lot of you guys have probably owned a few of these. So give me the run down on the different years and their strengths/weaknesses?

[Mark Henry]

Man, I better sell my '99 Passat fast...it has an automatic (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) and 270K. If you can't afford to replace the expensive front end every two years then don't buy one, very poor design.The '99 passat is basically a rebadged Audi A4, I guess a bit more than just a badge but it's the same chassis, same expensive junk front end.
95 golf has over 300k and the clutch is just barely starting to slip. But I have 2 donner cars that were given to me free.
All VW's you have to replace the timing belt's regularly, it's how the wenches make their money. I bet Crusty does a couple every week.
Both cars have plastic bits that are falling apart.

Never liked a scirocco, no headroom and that drives me nuts. Tod looking at that pic I'd guess we're about the same age.

IMO both my cars are junk, I got them both super cheap and I have had not enough problems to ditch them yet. I would never buy a new VW.
My Little toyota 22R truck went 550K, still ran fine but rust never sleeps. My Toyota ....umm, crap can't even remember the model... station wagon also went 500+K before it was retied to field car status. I'd buy a new Toyota or something before I'd ever buy a VW.